Lalitpur, February 27:

A three-day international conference of women journalists kicked off here today with the slogan of ‘journalism beyond barriers’.

Inaugurating the conference organised by the Working Women Journalists, with the support of Toyota Foundation and Japan International Cooperation Agency Nepal (JICA-Nepal), Minister for Information and Communications Krishna Bahadur Mahara said political parties had not been able to rise above party interests not only in Nepal but also in the whole South Asia.

“The media has a great role to correct the political parties and foster a sense of feeling that national interests are more important than personal interests,” Mahara said, urging the mediapersons to be unbiased and credible.

He also said the Ministry would be launching a campaign to ensure transparency in the state affairs through the implementation of Rights to Information Act. He said the government would implement the Working Journalist Act from April 14 by formulating the Working Journalist Regulations.

President of Federation of Nepali Journalists Dharmendra Jha said though there had been an increase in the number and quality of women journalists in the country, their continuity in the profession was still a challenge.

“Due to impunity, the cases of threats to journalists are increasing day by day, forcing the working journalists to quit their profession,” Jha said. “Most of the women journalists are likely to discontinue their profession sooner or later due to the threats to journalists.”

Jha underscored the need for physical and professional security for women journalists. He reiterated that the fourth phase of FNJ’s protests were aimed at ensuring press freedom and journalists’ security.

Kunda Dixit, editor of Nepali Times, said mediapersons, who were supposed to disseminate someone else’s news,

were being featured in the news themselves these days, thanks to the increasing cases of threats to journalists.

WWJ president Sangita Lama said the conference was organised to share women journalists’ issues in south Asia and to discuss on ways to overcome the prevailing challenges.

Women journalists from India, Pakistan, Japan and Bangladesh are participating in the conference, which is being organised for the first time in Nepal.